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Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Hola, amigos! Well, only 3 short days remain in our Streaking challenge! AND we are almost to the halfway point of our Century Run summer challenge! What better time to provide an update on my progress so far. In short? I'm exhausted! I can't remember the last time I was this deliriously tired... maybe last summer? Regardless... I'm tired, cranky, and ready to go back to my regular routine.

The streak has been fun - my niece and I continue to find new ways to get our miles in, whether it be a short jog around the neighborhood or a challenging hike in the heat. A couple of weekends ago, we did a nearly 5 mile hike at Vasquez Rocks with some girls I met through Girls Who Hike LA (a team of which I am a moderator). While I hope to find time to blog about it later, it was a moderately strenuous hike - slightly under 5 miles (I forgot to turn the app on, so that's why it's only reflecting 3.99) and an elevation gain of roughly 1,000'. AND... we did it in 90+ degree heat! Whew!

We've been trying to mix things up during the work week too - whether it's testing new neighborhood routes in the dark to beat the heat, or walking the various trails at the park near my house, we try to forge a different path every single day! (Confession: There have been many days that doing just a mile has been hard lately. I don't know if it's work stress, personal stress, or heat exhaustion, but I am dog tired these days! But... we haven't skipped a day yet! Yay!)

We kicked off the last week of the Streak by visiting Pinnacles National Park for a hike. We had planned a longer hike than we ended up doing, but we were pretty proud with what we did! All in all, I have reached over 50 miles of walking, jogging, running, and hiking on this streak. I'm halfway to my century goal (which I now fully expect to exceed), and feeling stronger every day.

But it hasn't been all wins, folks. Personal training sessions aside, I have not been fully committed to weight lifting. It sucks because I enjoy it, but I feel so guilty leaving my niece alone all day that I end up talking myself into skipping it after work so that I can spend my time with her. My runs have also suffered. I have been "streaking" with my niece, but she's not a runner. When I do run, it's usually short and not very fast. I really need to work on pace and endurance in the months ahead. Sigh.

My next race is coming up on July 10th in Ventura, and I hope to find time in the next two weeks to somewhat train for that accordingly. If not, it will be a lesson learned. (as if I am learning from any of these errors... sheesh).

Are you streaking with the cool kids? Or did you join our century run? Neither? I don't blame you... my occasionally lazy behind wishes she didn't commit to so much too! But I do hope you're taking advantage of the warmer weather! Get outside! Explore! And tell me about it so I can live vicariously when I read about your adventures during breaks between my meetings on my iPhone! :)

In the meantime, it's bedtime for this girl... another marathon day of meetings awaits me in the morning! Hope you are happy and healthy, my friends!

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Ok, ok... it's not that kind of streaking! What kind of auntie do you think I am? No, my niece and I have committed to a 30 day running/walking streak along with a thousand of our internet buddies, courtesy of Pink Cupcake Girl (aka Jenn Davis). The rules? You must run, walk, or jog at least one mile every single mile for 30 days. Yes, 30 days straight. No, you can't bank days and no, you can't make them up. No excuses. Period.

As I mentioned earlier this summer, my niece and I have decided to complete 100 miles of running this summer (in June and July). This 30 day streak seemed to fall within that perfectly, so we added it to our plate. It's been great so far! It's given my niece and me a reason to be active every single day, and we've used it as an excuse to find creative ways to hit our mile+ target each day.

While we mostly get our miles done in the neighborhood, my niece and I do take opportunities to take our show on the road every now and then too. My niece and I had already decided we wanted to spend a lot of time hiking this summer, so this has fit well into our new routine (hiking is basically walking at an incline). A couple of Saturdays ago, for example, we used our daily goal to hike up to Raven's Landing at the Wind Wolves Preserve in Kern County!

Some days have been easier than others. When temperatures climbed past the 100 degree mark last week, it took a lot of dedication for the two of us to hit the pavement and get our steps in. I'm glad my niece has been here though - she keeps me accountable, and she makes it so much more fun!

Today was our 14th day, so we are just one day shy of the halfway point. I wish I could say that we are running faster or farther than when we started, but we aren't. I'm not sure why. Part of it has to be laziness (although I don't feel lazy), and I'm sure part of it has to do with the heat (although it's been cooler this week). Whatever it is, I hope we get after it for the second half of this challenge. Well, I hope that I get after it anyway. I have another 10K in less than a month, and I'd really like to beat my Tinkerbell 10K time :)

For those of you still with us for the 100 miles of running summer challenge, we hit mile 26 today! If we stay at the current pace, we will easily meet the 100 mile goal. I'd really like to beat it though - here's hoping! Hope that all of you have a happy, healthy week!

Hello friends! Although it has been longer than I would prefer, rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. Well, maybe not, if you expand your definition of demise to mean the loss of pretty much all free or down time. Whenever people would tell me that they "didn't have time" to exercise, I would roll my eyes a little. What do you mean you don't have time? Obviously, if you're not exercising, you're just not making it a priority in your life, right? Well, now I just feel like those silly people who give out parenting advice before they have kids. I really want to exercise, but I can't. I just don't have the time!My health is still (sort of) a priority in my life. (I can say that with a reasonably straight face despite having neither a piece of fruit or a vegetable all day yesterday). It's just that sometimes it falls down a little bit on the totem pole. Exercise or sleep? Exercise or study? Exercise or Young & the Restless? And so on and so. The days when I can spend a whole hour or more in the gym are gone. I have to focus on being efficient if I'm going to bother at all. I've been reduced to quick runs, HIIT training or the speediest of circuits at the gym. Suddenly, I'm feeling nostalgic about those long runs (unbelievable)! So, what's a girl to do? What are some ways that you have been able to sneak fitness into a busy daily existence? By all means, let me know and I'll try to post again before 2018.
:)